Gay & black TV characters up, Latinos down, in 2012-13

The number of gay and bisexual characters on scripted U.S. broadcast network TV is at its highest-ever level in the season ahead, according to the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. The total on cable television is also going up.The 17th-annual Where We Are on TV report released Friday by GLAAD found 4.4 per cent of actors appearing regularly on prime-time network drama and comedy series during the 2012-13 season will portray lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender characters. This is up from 2.9 per cent in 2011, which saw a dip in what had been a growing annual trend.

Compared to last year, African-American representation has grown from 9.9 per cent to 12 per cent, while Hispanic representation has decreased from 5.6 per cent to 4.1 per cent.

John AravosisFollow me on Twitter: @aravosis | @americablog | @americabloggay | Facebook | Instagram | Google+ | LinkedIn. John Aravosis is the Executive Editor of AMERICAblog, which he founded in 2004. He has a joint law degree (JD) and masters in Foreign Service from Georgetown; and has worked in the US Senate, World Bank, Children's Defense Fund, the United Nations Development Programme, and as a stringer for the Economist. He is a frequent TV pundit, having appeared on the O'Reilly Factor, Hardball, World News Tonight, Nightline, AM Joy & Reliable Sources, among others. John lives in New York City, and is the cofounder of TimeToResign.com. Bio, article archive.

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